Beehive hood and condition indicator



HA MA E J. B. QQTTAM BEEHIVE HOOD AND CONDITION INDICATOR Filed July 21, 1922 IN VENTOI? HN fim'mm lit? Patented first. 9, 1923.

JOHN B. COT'I'AIII, OF IVIONTECI'IO, CALIFORNIA.

BEEHIVE HOOD AND CONDITION INDICATOR.

Application filed July 21, 1922. Serial No. 578,573.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. JOHN B. CoTTAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Montecito. in the county of Santa Barbara and State of California. have invented new and useful Improvements in Beehive Hood and Condition Indicators, f which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a apiarists apparatus. and more particularly to an attachment to hives of the box form.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for facilitating the record keeping of a colony oi bees. and to provide a. device applicable to a beehive and which includes a case fo holding record forming paraphernalia and which also forms a protecting hood from rain and sun in front of the beehive entrance.

Another object is to provide an attachment including a sanitary, ventilated alighting board or bee landing. A further object is to provide an attachment or device com-- bined with a beehive in such manner as to form a receiver for any convenient and suitable form of bee trap applicable to the front of the hive for catching the bees. Another object is to provide meansvtor holding an applied bee trap snugly in position to prevent accidental dislodgment.

A further object is to provide a means to which may be readily attached a re movable tag or symbol device for indicating the number, name and other data, as for instance the condition of the hive, so that the desired information can be readily ob tained without necessitating interior examination oi thehive. T

A broad object of the invention consists in providing a record keeping apparatus capable of being used for giving various de tail of informatio as to a beehive or colony, and which consists of elements selectively serviceable and adapted to be arranged upon the hive in a conspicuous manuer so that the attendant may readily attend to the hives as may be indicated according to the given selected. and set symbol numbers. i

Other objects will be made manifest in the Following specification of an embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective of a conventional form of beehive showing the pro -members A that. by providing a suitable number of the tecting hood and symbol'support attached thereto.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the hood showing its cover opened to disclose the record keeping apparatus.

F 3 is a vertical cross section through the upper part f the hood showing details of construction.

Fig. 4 is a perspective of one of the system devices being a number plate.

Fig. 5 is a perspective illustrating diagrammatically a conventional form of the trap.

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view illustrating the arrangement of the trap belowthe hood and showing its fastening device.

The extensive industry relative to bee growing and honey producing has developed the necessity of providing a simple. practicable, inexpensiv and ample form of apparatus for providing for the eflicient management and maintaining of a colony or colonie of bees. Apiarists have now reduced bee keeping to a scientific basis and frequently the apiarists have extensive colonies requiring several attendants. To that end, my invention involve the provision of means for facilitating the proper, prompt and requisite service according to the var ious individual hives and colonies in an establishment. T that end, I provide a set of record keeping devices forming condi tion and index symbols which may b characterized in various manners. For instance,

- by my system a series ofsubstantial and preferably metal symbol members 2 are utilized, and certai of these members may constitute index guides as alphabetically characterized members 2 and the numeral members '2", so that it is possible by the utilization of a relatively small number of the symbol members to provide for a very great range of service, as for instance in order to keep down the number of parts after a colony or beehive had been given the index 999, instead of adding an additional digit for the thousand, an alphabetic series may then be started as for utilizing A. as a pretex to the indexing system ofnumber. as shown in Fig. 1, by serial From-this it will be seen alphabetic index members and a suitable number of; the number members, great range is provided'for numerically identifyst e co oni s.

Further, my present system includes the provision of a number of symbol members Red rAmerica n foul brood. Blue "European foul brood. Black colony deadj Pink strong colony. Sky blue short of stores. Green preparing to swarm. Qrange requeen. Yellow 1noth infected. Gray a laying worker. Brown honey bound. \Vhite .O, ,K.

To readily apply'the condition andindex members to any given colony and hive, I

have provided an attachment. or devicewhich may be constructed initially'with the hive, for holding such of the index members as may be desired immediately at each of the hives. so that the manager and assist-- ants, according to his predetermined duties, can quickly ascertain the condition of the hive by examination thereof and then sct or adjust the necessary symbol members in conspicuous position at the hive.

- To that end, the invention involves a hood-like structure having a roof plate 10, to' the transverse ends of which there are movably and preferably hingedly connected at 11 side pan-:wlsor plates 12, these being of such form to be applicable over the lower portion of the front corners of the hive H, as. clearly shown in Fig. 1. To facilitate attachment of .the device, screws 13, or other headed device, can be driven into the bottom B of the h ive, and

'over these will be passed the edges of slots 12" provided in the lower portion of each of the end panels 12. The slots 12 are preferably disposed obliquely as to the plane of the bottom B and thus form hook-like fastening 'means when engaging the screws 13. The upper edges of the end panels 12, when the latter are applied, preferably extend downwardly and forwardly so as to hold the hood ortop plate 10 in an inclined position so as to shed rain forwardly and clownwardly into a longitudinal gutter 14 along the front eave of-the hood. To prevent the accumulation of an undesirable degree of heat below the hood 10 any heat insulating medium may be applied thereto, as an insulating board 15 shown in Fig. 3.

- "Another feature of To provide for the convenient attachment and secure holding of the various symbol members 2-, the upper portion. of the hood 10 is provided with a longitudinally extending guideway or channel 16 to receive the flanges 2 provided on the bottom of the members 2, sothat these latter may be held in substantially applied position in front of the beehive to be conspicuously disclosed.

For convenience and for time saving and labor saving, and also for the purpose of reducing the possibility of loss of the various symbol members. there is provided upon the top of the hood 10 a receiver which may consist of a shallow longitudinally extending box 17 which is provided with a cover 18 preferably hinged along the front edge of the hood as at 19. The box walls project upwardly and'the cover is provided with a marginal flange adapted to close down over the wall of the box so as to make a. substantially rain proof receiver in which maybe retained a record man fold hook R which provides for the entry of a record after inspection by the inspector of the. bee-hive. (inc copy of a record on a given date is left in the receiver on top of the hood, and another copy is taken to the office of the apiarist for permanent record; It will be seen that this provides for a record, after each inspection, being kept immediately at each beehive or colony, and a record being kept in a permanent file in the office.

Contained in, the receiver isalso a series of the index members 2 and 2". phere is also'main'tained within the receivers a set of the condition symbol nicn'll'iers 2,

so that as soon as an inspection has been made of the hive, the proper condition symbol 2 is selected and arranged as is shown in Fig. 1. the selected symbol, in this case, being white and indicating O. H. condition.

The meaning of each of the-condition symbols is readily ascertaine d by 13-. erence to the guide orkcy card K and this isipreferably'securely' attached to a portion of the device, as for instance by being mounted in a holder which consists of a transparent window'or covering piece 20 provided conveniently on the inside of the hinged cover 18. i 1 It will be seen that when the cover is open, the contents of the receiver are fully exposed and are conveniently accessible,- and for convenience a pencilholder and pencil 21 'are provided in the receptacle.

he invention resides in the provision of aventilated and sanitary form of alightin'g' plane or bee landing. and this I provide in the form of a substantial frame 23 carrying a sheet of foraminous material, such as apiece of woven screen 24': of suitable mesh. This landing is adapted to be readily applied to the hood when the latter is unfolded and attached to the beehive as shown in Fig. 1. The :i'rani is provided *ith end pintles 25. and these are adapted to be passed into apertures 26 provided; thereior in the end panels 12 and thus provide for the arrangement of the bee landing 24k in a position in front oi? the lip 01 the bottom B above which is provided the hive opening 0. This form of? bee landing provides for the ample ventilation oil. the sub-jacent platform or structure upon which the hive may be arranged. This is desirable since, ii a solid or lllEPOlllOlZttC bee landing is utilized, the lower surtaces thereof and adjacent thereto will become niildewed and damp and unsanitary and result in illness and death of the bees.

It is often desirable to trap a portion or all of the bees in a given hive, and in such case it is usual to apply a trap, a torm of which is conventionally illustrated at T, in Fig. 5, and is applied over the opening 0 of the hive so as to catch the bees. To a'cconnuodate such device, the present invention shows one of the panels 12 as being provided with an end gate 12 which may be lifted to provide for the insertion of the trap T. To hold the trap in place, there is provided a brace 28 which is 'loldably connected at 29 so as to be swung to an upwardly extending; position as shown in Fig. 6 to engage and prop up the applied trap T.

In my companion application S. N. 576; 5'74; filed the 22nd day oi July, 1922, thereis shown an adjustable entrance closure, and to permit of the application of such closure to the hive H 01 the present adaptation, one of the end panels is provided with a small door or gate 12 which may be opened to permit the insertion of the above mentioned entrance closure.

It will be seen that myinvention provides for the removal of a hive rearwardly from its bottom board and enables the application of another hive without removing or dismounting the covering hood.

Farther embodiments modifications and changes may be resorted to within the spirit of the invention as here claimed.

What is claimed is:

l. A protecting device for beehives, including a hood attachable to the front of a hive to overhang the hive entrance, the hood havinga hollow roof. the upper portion of which is movable to provide access to the chamber within the roof.

2. A protecting device for beehives, including a hood attachable to the front of a hive to overhang the hive entrance and having end panels, the end panels having slots to set over supporting: shanks provid ed therefor.

3. A protecting device for beehives, including a hood attachable to the front of a hive to overhang the hive entrance and having end panels, one of the end panels having an opening for the insertion of a bee trap.

4-. A protecting d vice for beehive's, including a hood attachable to the front of a hive to overhang the hive entrance and having end panels, one of the end panels having an opening for the insertion oi a bee trap, and a foldable prop for bracing the applied trap.

5. I combination with a beehive, a toraminous bee landing through which light and air may pass, and a hood having; end panels to which said landing is :loldably attached to be extended outwardly in front of the hood.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JOY-IN B. COTTAM. 

